Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has explained the mystery behind a social media post after his side’s 4-2 win at Leeds United on Sunday.
The central defender opened the scoring at Elland Road with his first goal of the season to head home Luke Shaw’s corner in the first half – United’s first goal from a corner this campaign.
It was a big moment for Maguire, who has endured a difficult campaign for United, and he celebrated with a sliding knee celebration in front of the home fans.
After the match, the England international took to Twitter to post a photo of his celebration with the caption ‘You Reds’ – in what initially appeared to be a bland post-match update.
However, upon closer inspection the image had a curious detail that led to a flurry of bewilderment on social media – why had a Leeds fan been photoshopped into the image?
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It swiftly transpired that Maguire had taken an image of himself celebrating in front of the home fans at Elland Road but had photoshopped the image of a face over one of the fans in the stands.
While the photoshopped image was not obvious on first glance, it was always likely to be picked up by those among Maguire’s 1.8million following on Twitter.
The post understandably baffled followers and led to questions as to why this had happened – amid suggestions that his social media team may have made an embarrassing error.
However, Maguire has now clarified the real reason for the image and confirmed that he did in fact know the Leeds fan whose head was, not particularly subtlety, added to the picture.
Maguire explained on Twitter: “For everyone asking, it’s my good mate, a big Leeds fan. He was at the ground but not in the pic. He’s been giving us some stick all week so thought I’d add him in.”
The defender’s delight after finding the net was understandable, not only that it was his first goal of the campaign but it was United’s first from a corner – at the 139th time of asking in the Premier League.
Maguire admitted after the match: “Every time I see the stat, I’m embarrassed.
“Set-pieces are a massive part of the game and we have been nowhere near good enough this season.”
United’s victory was impressive in a ferocious Elland Road atmosphere and battling against the elements, with heavy rain falling on the pitch throughout the encounter.
“The conditions in the second half were really bad. The half we were defending was really waterlogged,” added Maguire.
“We had to fight, we had to stick together. We knew we had the quality to win the game. We spoke at half-time about the need to score more goals in the second half and we managed to do that.”
Next up for Maguire and United is a trip to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in their Champions League Round of 16 first leg, before hosting Watford in the Premier League on Saturday.
